


Too Late

by w00dsley



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-16 12:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5829130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w00dsley/pseuds/w00dsley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Clarke found out her dad died, she needed to get away, like, as soon as possible. Her friends understood why she didn't tell them until the last minute, fearing that they would change her mind. But Clarke couldn't bring herself to say goodbye to her best friend, knowing that he would be the one to make her stay. Now, over a year later she's back, but the one person she wants to see no longer wants to see her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Too Late

Clarke peered out the window of the taxi, the familiarity of her home town rushing back to her with each passing inch. It felt oddly comforting - nothing like how it felt the day she boarded the plane over a year ago.

-

“Your father, he passed away this morning. I’m so sorry.”  
Jake Griffin had been fighting cancer for almost two years, so Clarke shouldn’t have been surprised when she received the phone call from his doctor at the end of senior year. Yet, a part of her had always hoped he would make it. 

Despite everyone’s best efforts, nothing made her feel better. Clarke’s mom was just as distraught as her, picking up more hours at the hospital, burying herself in work just to distract herself. Clarke slowly began losing interest in everything she once loved. Nothing seemed to matter to her anymore. She even distanced herself from her friends, making up excuses every time they tried to see her just so she could sit home alone and be miserable.  
Bellamy didn’t give up as easily as the others, though. Whenever Clarke gave him a reason as to why she couldn’t go out, he would stop by her house to make sure she was okay. Most of time she would put on a fake smile and insist she was fine until he left. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate his concern, it was just that she hated feeling like a burden, and she was seriously starting to feel like an inconvenience. She had to get away from everything - from her mom, from the town she grew up in, from her friends, from the boy that she had loved for as long she could remember. She planned her move to California while she finished out senior year, only telling her friends of her plan the day of graduation, hours before she was scheduled to leave. Well, most of her friends. Actually, all of them except one - Bellamy. 

She knew that it was terrible, to not say goodbye to the person who has been there for her the most, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Clarke couldn’t bear to see the look on his face when she told him, and she knew that he would try to convince her to stay. Having Bellamy try to stop her would only make it harder, and she knew that this was something she needed to do. So, she didn’t tell him, and she didn’t say goodbye.

Clarke figured he had found out when she arrived at the airport and looked at her phone: 6 missed calls, 5 text messages. She didn’t bother to read any of his texts, or call him back before boarding the plane, not wanting anything he had to say to change her mind. Yeah, she knew she was an awful human being.

It wasn’t until the end of the day, when she was mostly settled in her new apartment that she opened his texts.

5:04 pm - Octavia told me. Is it true?  
5:10 pm - Answer your phone.  
5:12 pm - Clarke.  
5:15 pm - Just, call me.  
5:20 pm - I’m begging you, don’t do this.

Her heart broke as she read the messages. Holding her breath, she dialed his number and waited. It only rang once before going straight to voicemail, mentally thanking god that she didn’t have to speak to him just yet.

“Bellamy, hey, it’s me. Listen, I just- I need you to call me, okay? Please.”

She had tried again the next day, and the day after that. Finally two weeks had gone by and she had given up. He wasn’t going to call her back, and she didn’t blame him.  
Things had gotten easier after a while, though. She began working in a small café, met some new people, attended a few art classes at the local university, and managed to keep in touch with her friends back home. Most of her friends, at least.  
It was a little over a year when she finally felt like herself again. She was ready to come home.

-

A smile spread across her lips as the taxi pulled up in front of her house. Her mom was already waiting outside, running to hug her as she stepped out of the car. “I’m so happy you’re home.” Abby whispered as she tightly held onto her daughter. “Yeah, me too.” Clarke smiled, hugging her back. They carried her bags inside, placing them down before a loud chorus of “Surprise!” made Clarke gasp. She spun around, taking in the sight of all her friends standing there, holding up a banner that stated: “Welcome Home!” She smiled and ran over, all of them wrapping their arms around her in a group hug. Raven was the first to speak. “It’s good to see you, Griffin.” “We missed you.” Monty chimed in. Clarke greeted all of them with teary eyes before realizing something. “Octavia, where’s Bellamy?” Octavia’s smile fell. “He um, he’s not coming.” Clarke did her best to mask the disappointment she felt. She knew things weren’t just going to go back to the way they once were, even though that was what she was hoping for. 

Clarke spent the rest of the night catching up with everyone, trying to not think about the one person she wanted to see the most. She found out that Monty and Miller were together, Raven had an accident at work which injured her foot temporarily, and Octavia moved in with her boyfriend Lincoln.  
Clarke waved goodbye as the last of them left, smiling to herself as she closed the door. It was nice to see them again after so long. Her smile faded as she thought about Bellamy still being upset with her. He didn’t even want to see her after all this time and her heart broke at the thought. She yelled upstairs to her mom. “Mom, I’ll be home later! There’s still one more person I need to see.” She grabbed her mom’s keys off the counter and hopped in the car. 

She drove in silence to his apartment, her heart beating the entire time. Her hands began to shake as she pulled up in front of his building. All the memories came flooding back. He was her best friend ever since that day back in elementary school, when he punched stupid Finn Collins in the nose after he threw dirt at her on the playground, making her cry. They were inseparable ever since, and somewhere along the way she had fallen for him.  
She put the car in park and got out, making her way to the front door. Wearily, she climbed the two flights of stairs and slowly walked down the familiar hallway, stopping in front of his door: 36B

Clarke held her breath as she raised her tightly clenched fist, knocking on the door gently. Biting her lip nervously, she waited. She heard the latch being unlocked and watched as the knob turned. Her heart fell when the door opened though, revealing a tall brunette dressed in what she recognized to be one of Bellamy’s t-shirts. (She knew because she had stolen it many times before.)  
“Is um, Bellamy home?” Clarke tried to keep her voice steady. “He’s actually in the shower. Do you want come in and wait?” The girl smiled and pointed inside. “No, no. That’s okay. I don’t really have time right now. I’ll try tomorrow or something. Thanks.” Clarke gave a fake smile and quickly turned around, not waiting for a reply as she made her way down the hall, vision becoming blurry as her eyes filled with tears.


	2. Too Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of [This Story](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5829130)

Clarke dragged her foot across the grass, gently pushing the swing she was sitting on back and forth as she drew in another shaky breath. She stormed out of Bellamy’s building about an hour ago, and drove straight to the park. The park they hung out at almost every day growing up. _Their_ park.  

 _God what was I thinking?_ She thought to herself. _That he’d be sitting there waiting for me when I decided to come home? That we’d just go back to being best friends?_

She didn’t expect him to wait for her. Yet, a part of her hoped that he would. 

“What did I tell you about coming here at night by yourself?”

Clarke froze at the sudden voice behind her, but let out a sigh once she realized who it belonged to. 

“You told me not to.” It came out as barely a whisper. She thought maybe he hadn’t even heard her until he mumbled a “glad to see you still don’t listen to me” while moving to take the swing next to her. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Clarke spoke up. 

“Why are you here, Bellamy?” She kept her eyes fixed on the ground, refusing to look up at him. 

“I went to your house first. Your mom said you weren’t home. I figured this was the only other place-”

“No I mean, _why,_ are you here? You seemed pretty busy when I stopped by before.” She hadn’t meant to add the last part. But it came out anyway, as bitter as she felt. 

He allowed the words to linger in the air before turning to face her. “ _You_ , have no reason to be mad at _me_ , Clarke.” 

She shifted her gaze to meet his, holding her breath as she took him in. Freckles were still scattered across his cheeks, and the scar that he got fighting Murphy back in high school still sat above his lip. Yet, he looked - different. Like the guy she was looking at wasn’t actually Bellamy. His hair was longer, messier too if that was possible. But the thing that made her chest hurt, was the difference in his eyes. 

They were dark. The brightness she left behind had dulled, and overall he just looked, broken. She prayed that the change wasn’t all due to her abandoning him, but the guilt that washed over her in that moment made her sick. 

She let out a sigh. “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at myself. I can’t blame you for hating me. I hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.” He quickly cut her off.

She turned so she was now fully facing him. “But, you never even called me back. I tried for weeks, Bellamy. I left over a hundred messages-”

“You left, Clarke!” He was now out of the swing, pacing in front of her. “I had to hear from Octavia that you were leaving for California! How did you expect me to react!?” 

“Bellamy.” Clarke stood up, reaching to take his hand but he pulled it away.

“You left. And you said goodbye to everyone, everyone except me.” 

He didn’t make an effort to wipe away the tears in his eyes as he ran a shaking hand through his hair. “You were my best friend.” 

It came out as a whisper, but it still made Clarke wince. 

“That’s why I couldn’t say goodbye to you, Bell. It was physically impossible for me to look you in the eyes and tell you that I was leaving. If there was one person who could make me stay, it was you. And at the time, I had so much going on that leaving was something I had to do.”

Bellamy let out an empty laugh. “You had to leave, for over a year? Did you not think about the people you left behind? The people waiting for you to come back? I was falling apart and you didn’t even care.”

“You don’t think I thought about you everyday? How bad I felt for leaving you behind? The longer I was away, the harder it was to come back. I didn’t know what to do.” 

“All you had to do was come home!” Bellamy turned away, moving to sit on the grass as he furiously wiped away the tears now running down his cheeks. 

Reluctantly, Clarke walked over, sitting down right beside him. “Do you remember that day back in tenth grade, when I first found out that my dad was sick?” He remained silent, so she continued. “You found me, sitting under that tree over there. I wouldn’t talk to anyone. But when you showed up, I started crying. You hugged me and told me that no matter what happened, you would always be there for me. I knew that you meant it. That was the day I realized I loved you.”

Bellamy’s eyes flickered to hers, and she barely had time to react before he was on top of her, moving his mouth against hers like she was air and he was drowning.

He let out a heavy sigh and placed his forehead against hers. “Please, don’t ever leave me again.”

And she meant it with all her heart when she answered, “I never will.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I didn't expect so much love on the first part so I was really excited to continue this story. 
> 
> I had to include the quote "she was air and he was drowning" because I'm cheesy as hell but I got it from The Love Notebook. 
> 
> And if you want to find me on tumblr click [Here :)](http://w00dsley.tumblr.com)


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